Limerence

“So,” I jumped and slammed my locker shut at the sound of Peter’s voice suddenly behind me. “You’re officer Collins’s daughter?”

“Yep.” I shrugged and adjusted my backpack on my shoulders. “How do you know my dad?”

“Oh, he comes over all the time to check on my aunt and I.” Peter shrugged as we made our way down the halls.

“But… why?”

“I don’t know. He’s nice?” Peter shrugged and opened the doors to the front of the school for me. “Plus, I think he’s kind of into my aunt.”

“What?”

“Yeah. Weird, right?” Peter kinda chuckled as we walked up to the platform for the subway. “Hey, did you hear about Liz’s party tonight?” We stepped onto the subway just before the doors shut.

“Yeah, she invited me. I think it was just to be nice though. She asked me to take pictures for the yearbook.” I shrugged and tucked a lock of my hair behind my ear. “Nobody ever really wants the new girl at a party.” The subway took off and I grabbed onto a bar overhead to prevent myself from falling over.

“If Liz invited you it’s because she definitely wanted you there.” Peter smiled at me. “My aunt May will more than likely drive me and Ned to the party if you decide to go. We’ll leave at seven.”

“Yeah… I’ll think about it.” The rest of the train ride home was silent until we got to our stop. “I’ll see you later!” I called out to him and ran down the street to my new home. I had to rummage through my closet for the perfect outfit to make a decent first impression. “Look, the best I can do is a pair of ripped jeans and a nice shirt, Lea.” I groaned and plopped down on my bed and turned my laptop towards me. “How does this look?” Lea leaned forward towards her computer screen and shrugged.

“I guess it’s alright if that’s the best you can do.” I sighed and grabbed my jacked from the chair. “What would we ever do without Skype?” She laughed as I sat on my bed. “So this Peter guy must be pretty cute if you actually want to look nice for him.”

“I mean, he’s… okay, I guess.” I giggled. Who was I kidding? I thought he was cute. But nothing insane. I barely knew the guy. “The only problem is that his building’s elevator is broken, so I’d have to walk up to the seventh floor to ever see him.”

“Ugh. Exercise.” Lea chuckled and adjusted her laptop. “What time are you supposed to go to this party?”

“Well, dad already gave me the ‘O.K.’. Something about needing to be a teenager while I’m still a teenager. It made no sense. Peter said to meet him at seven to ride. So I should be leaving…” I checked the clock in the corner of my screen. “Now. I’ll text you!” I shut my laptop, grabbed my camera, and walked out of my room. “I’m headed out dad. I’ll be home late!” I left before he could get a warning in and jogged down the stairs rather than wait on the elevator.

“Hey, you made it!” Peter smiled as I met them at his aunt’s car. “Aunt May, this is Callie, Officer Collins’s daughter.”

“Oh, it’s so nice to finally meet you! David talks about you all the time.” I shook May’s outreached hand.

“It’s nice to meet you, too!” Peter’s aunt motioned towards the car as he and Ned climbed in. “Thank you again for the ride, Miss Parker.”

“Oh, you can just call me Aunt May. Everyone does.”

We pulled up to Liz’s house about twenty minutes later before Peter started to chicken out. “Well, while you guys talk about how big of a chicken Peter is, I’m gonna head inside and start taking pictures.” I grabbed my camera from the seat beside me and stepped out of the car.

“She’s cute,” I heard May whisper to Peter.

 “That’s weird, Aunt May.” I could almost hear the eyeroll in Peter’s voice as I shut the car door. I felt my hands beginning to shake as I reached the front door. Liz immediately opened it and smiled at me.

“Callie! I’m so glad you could make it!” She ushered me inside. “We have pizza and drinks in the kitchen, so just help yourself. Take as many pictures as you want, but you don’t have to if you don’t want to.” Liz shrugged.

“Oh, yeah, I’ll get some for you. I can Facebook them to you?”

“Sounds great, hey Peter! Ned! Glad you guys could make it…” Her voice trailed off as she walked towards the front door. I sighed and lifted the camera to my eye and took a few shots of the kids around me having a great time.

“What are you doing at this lame high school party?” Michelle’s voice startled me.

“Dude you have got to stop doing that.” I sighed and held up my camera. “Liz asked me to get some pictures… wait you’re at this lame high school party.”

“Am I?” I rolled my eyes as she walked off.

“Hey look everybody! Penis Parker is here! Wait… that’s not Spider-Man… that’s just Ned in a red shirt!” The house filled with laughter. Why were high school kids so cruel? I looked over at Peter as he backed out of the house.

“Hey, Callie!” Ned smiled and walked over to me. “How are you liking it?”

“It’s… okay. Is Peter alright?”

“Yeah. He’s used to it now. He just went out to get some air. It’s kinda crowded in here. He’ll be right back in.” I nodded at Ned’s explanation and looked around. There really were a bunch of kids in here.

“Hey, I’ll be right…” I glanced up at the skylight and saw a man in a red suit pulling a mask over his face. “Holy crap… is that Spider-Man?” Ned looked up and gasped.

“You know what? I think you might be seeing things that’s a… Christmas decoration.”

“In September?” I pointed my camera at the window as Spider-Man crouched down as if observing something in the distance. I took a couple pictures and watched as he jumped off the roof.

“Liz’s family celebrates early.”

“I gotta go!” I ran out the front door and watched in awe as a giant purple light shot above the trees in the distance. “Whoa…” I reached for my camera instinctively.

“Look out!” I ducked as a blur of red and blue jumped over my head. “Sorry! Nothing to swing from!” Spider-Man apologized as he ran across Liz’s lawn. “This sucks!” I immediately began to snap some pictures before the sprinklers turned on and made my way back into the house.

“Ned! You missed it!” I called out as I ran over to him. “There was a giant purple explosion in the distance, and of course I didn’t get a picture of it because Spider-Man just flew over my head and ran off towards it. Look! I got some pictures of him before the automatic sprinklers turned on.” I pulled the pictures up on my camera and showed him the four pictures. “Isn’t that amazing?!” There was a look of disappointment written on Ned’s face. “What’s wrong?”

“Oh… it’s just that Peter was supposed to have Spider-Man show up here so that people wouldn’t keep calling us losers… but I guess he had other things to do.”

“Yeah. A giant purple explosion." I smiled widely at him. "Where is Peter, anyway? I didn’t see him outside.”

“Oh he uh… called Aunt May. Yeah. He wasn’t feeling too well. I’m gonna go call him to check on him.” Ned shuffled off as quickly as he could with everyone pressed together in the same room.

“Okay, then. That was weird.” I looked back up at the skylight and noticed a t-shirt lying on top of it, and it looked just like the one Peter wore to school today. “Coincidence.” I squinted at the shirt again before shrugging it off and calling my dad. “Hey, do you think you could come pick me up? I’m bored here.” There was no way Peter Parker was Spider-Man.